Revolution Stadium Groundbreaking "12-24 months" Part XVII

Eh, reh, good pernt there, Edith!

 

I wonder how much money she gets from the owners of those stadiums and entertainment venues?

 

Not gonna happen this time...

RIP Revs Stadium ⚽️ ☠️

The economic development bill that reclassified land in Everett to allow a new stadium for the @NERevolution failed early today in the legislature as the House and Senate could not reach a deal.

On to next time ... https://t.co/VVAhDy28Ow

— Bill Speros (@billsperos) August 1, 2024

 

Back into Limbo, just like I pulled a porkchop out of the freezer last night only to change my mind and stick it back in.

 

Ugh. I get the sense that this will languish, on and on in perpetuity. I'm not getting any younger and I'm really becoming more and more bothered about the Revs playing in an NFL BINGO barn. Even if Everett were cleared today, we are still looking at 5 more years in Bobby's giant Brady box.

At this point, if I heard a SSS across the street in F'boro is the new plan, then I would probably cave into the idea. I think now, they would still fill a F'boro SSS with plenty of bums. Also, they could probably get it done in 3 years.

 

I don't know about perpetuity, I think it will get done eventually. But it will take years to sort out the politics. Once that is done, whatever timeline they put on the construction, double or triple it.

 

Boston Globe article on Kraft Group Statement in the wake of Lucy once again being a fickle bitch
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/08/01/business/revolution-stadium-in-everett/

Josh Kraft's mayoral candidacy announcement coming soon??

 

I think the Revs are genuinely ticked off about this.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C-JECNHJRw1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

Then maybe the Revs should come up with some sort of workable proposal that addresses local needs and start talking about it in public rather than behind closed doors.

 

This is big, I'm afraid. As is often the case in local politics, there's more here than meets the eye. If I had to guess, the problem is the Garden. I know Kraft is tight with the Celtics ownership and John Henry & co. Not so sure about the Jacobs family.

Everett was the best chance to have this built in or near Boston. The local political leadership (which is powerful) is on board. They have a viable site and allegedly the governor is on board.

If it's not happening now, its never going to happen. Are we the only team in MLS now without a sss at least approved for construction?

 

Is it really that dead in the water? It seems like a lot wasn't passed not just the revs stadium proposal. I still think it gets done some way some how

 

I think the Krafts making a public statement criticizing the legislature and 'political leaders with outside influences' is very significant. It indicates that there's something beyond their control that's knocking this thing down.

 

I think they're upset that the state didn't consider the proposal on its own. I do not think the economic bill not passing had anything to do with the stadium specifically. I do not think it is dead yet

 

Listening to WBUR this morning, the legislature ends its regular session and moves to "open session" where a single vote stops any measure.

 

The government is such a cluster. We have effective one party rule in this state, but still - forgetting the stadium element for a moment, they couldn't get this bill reconciled at all, had to scrap the whole thing and now move to the informal open sessions to move on any pieces of it. The entire government is heavily controlled by one party and they couldn't reach an agreement on the whole development bill.

As for the Revs stadium element of it - this is what makes me shake my head. Nothing about what they have been trying to do guarantees that a stadium ever actually gets built. It allocates zero money toward a stadium. It is simply about allowing for a change to the port area designation, and puts a clock on it. This would be just a step - an important one, but ultimately a small step that would have to be followed by many more. Even if they changed the designation right now, I still wouldn't expect this thing to actually be built and open until we were in the 2030s.

Just one more piece of crap news in a piece of crap Revolution season.

 

I think this is a setback for the effort to build in Everett, but I don't think it's fatal.

But trying to get any sort of vote passed before Michelle Wu is on board strikes me as both naive and a strategic faux pas.

Also, I know Wynn wants to turn Lower Broadway into a destination entertainment district, but they also need to have larger buy in from both the community and the legislature, because the state is almost definitely going to need to do something traffic - especially in and around Sullivan Square.

 

Were they engaged in negotiations behind closed doors? I'm not sure how going public helps matters.

 

To be accurate, a single member can stop things by asking if there's a quorum. Things can get moved if there are enough legislators present.

 

This all boils down to the Krafts - particularly, Jonathan - still feeling stung over the lack of support they received for their plans to build a stadium for the Patriots in South Boston and a subsequent stadium for the Revolution in Dorchester. As such, they seem determined to cut the City of Boston out of any discussions and planning - let alone financial incentives - regarding an Everett-based facility for the Revs. This is despite the fact that even if the stadium is built in Everett, there is going to be a significant impact on traffic, parking, and public transit volume within Boston (and Somerville) neighborhoods adjacent to the Alford Street venue site.

The Krafts have known the price of getting a soccer-specific stadium built in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ever since agreeing to the deal to build Gillette Stadium. Namely, privately finance 100% of the facility's construction costs and - if need be - land acquisition costs, plus agree to reimburse the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and/or any municipality that needs to be dealt with for any publicly-funded infrastructure improvements. That's the established precedent. Done and dusted. If Bob and Jonathan Kraft had been willing to cut the same deal for a soccer-specific stadium that Bob made to get Gillette Stadium built, the Revolution would already be playing in their new home.

The sooner the Krafts accept the fact that the City of Boston and, likely, Somerville are going to have to be granted a seat at the table regarding negotiations for the Everett stadium site and that reimbursement costs for infrastructure improvements in Everett, as well as those necessitated by traffic/parking/transit concerns raised by the stadium in Boston and Somerville, are going to have to be borne by the Krafts, the sooner a significant step forward can be taken to approve legislation governing this project.

Now, there's also likely going to be some restrictions put on just how many events besides soccer matches - specifically, concerts, comedy shows, and the like - can be scheduled in the facility. It's either that or figure out some other way to sweeten-the-pot for the proprietors of existing live entertainment venues operating within the concert space - venues including, but not limited to TD Garden, Fenway Park, MGM Music Hall at Fenway, House of Blues, Paradise Rock Club, Brighton Music Hall, the Opera House, etc. Otherwise, they're going to continue to gum up the legislative works via lobbying.

Bottom line? It takes money to make money and the Krafts are going to have to start spreading the wealth in order to push this project through. Everyone's going to get their "taste", or the Revolution is going to continue to call Gillette Stadium home.

Bob and Jonathan have been functioning in their little Foxborough bubble for too long. Doing business in Greater Boston requires one to "horse trade", "grease the palm", and/or "bend the knee" when necessary. The Krafts either aren't adept at engaging in such practices, or they're unwilling to do so. That's going to have to change.

 

Boston and Somerville have both had their chances to work a deal and turned down multiple over the last 15ish years. Kraft and company owe them nothing. Everett stepped up and made an effort to make something happen. Purely a case of Boston wanting it's cake and eaiting it too.

 

Looks like they might head to a special session to deal with the pending bills:

So you’re saying there’s a chance? After a plea from @MassGovernor for lawmakers to continue negotiations — it appears the House and Senate are possibly headed into a special formal session to push this econ dev bill forward. Issues like Happy Hour and Revs are included.

— Tiffany Chan (@TiffanyWBZ) August 2, 2024

 

Perhaps the powers-that-be in municipal government in Boston and Somerville came to the determination that the deals the Krafts were willing to make weren’t as beneficial to the cities as they were to the Revolution/Kraft Sports Group. As the saying goes, “the juice has to be worth the squeeze” for both parties involved in the deal.

The municipal governments of Boston and Somerville could just as easily say that they owe the Krafts nothing.

Truth be told, in order to get a deal done, all of the parties involved owe one another the decency of negotiating in good faith towards a mutually beneficial final outcome.

Good for the City of Everett. We’ll see how it all shakes out for them.

A case of a project being proposed that, while sited in Everett, stands to have a significant impact upon traffic, parking, and mass transit usage in nearby neighborhoods within bordering cities, including Boston. Said cities want ironclad assurances that these issues will be discussed, solutions to the problems raised by said issues will be proposed, and the responsibility - including costs - for who will implement said solutions will be assigned before the project is simply rubber-stamped into existence.

Frankly, if this soccer-specific stadium is going to prove to be such a boon to the fiscal fortunes of the Revolution/Kraft Sports Group and the City of Everett, one would think they’d be more than happy to accept responsibility for addressing the aforementioned problems and the costs inherent in doing so, thereby putting at ease the minds of government officials in neighboring cities including Boston. Voila! Problem solved.

As is so often the case, “the devil is in the details”.